People

Props

A marker pen and two long pieces of paper
with a dot drawn at each end of each piece.

Seeds to give out to the children: e.g.
sunflower seeds with pots and compost, or cress seeds with plastic
saucers and cotton wool. A small watering can of water.

Preparation

Select 3 readers either before or at the
beginning of the service, according to your normal practice. Person 1 and
Person 2 should remain sitting in the congregation, but speak out their
parts clearly enough for all to hear.

Teaching Notes

Jesus taught us to 'seek first God's
kingdom and his righteousness'. What does this mean? Ask a child to help
you to draw a straight line. Make sure the child is old enough to follow
instructions. First, ask him/her to draw as straight a line as possible
between the two dots on the first piece of paper, looking only at the
pen's nib while s/he draws. Then ask him/her to repeat the exercise on
the second sheet, but this time watching only the final dot as s/he
draws. Usually the second line will be much straighter than the first!
Even though instinctively we want to watch the pen, we can actually do
much better if we focus on its destination. It's the same in life. If we
focus on seeking what God wants us to do, and obeying him, then
everything else falls into place.

Recall how, in the Lord's Prayer, we are
taught to pray 'Your Kingdom come, your will be done' before we ask for
our daily bread. This is the correct order of priority.

Distribute the seeds and allow the
children to plant/scatter and water them. Talk about how we need to do
our bit (watering the seeds) and then we can trust God to do the rest.
Just like the little boy who gave his loaves and fishes, which didn't
seem like much at the time - but in Jesus' hands they fed 5,000!